"GO AWAY, MIKE," Kat whined, shoving the receiver into her pillows to block out the noise.

"But do you have them?" Mike pressed. Cameron's laughter echoed through the phone.

"Hold on for a few, I'm busy," Kat rolled her eyes, adjusting her position sprawled over her blankets. Her school bag sat leaned up a few feet away against the closet, half-filled with school supplies. Kat lay on her bed fully dressed in her typical school clothes.

"I need the painkillers, now!" Mike said louder, twisting her door handle to the right, so if she got up and attempted to bolt it, it wouldn't lock in place.

"Do I look like have painkillers in my room?" She said, her voice raising to match his.

"You're a girl, duh! You obviously have them!"

Kat huffed, and reached into the open drawers under her desk. She took out a tin of aspirin and threw it at Mike's face, taking the opportunity where he flinched to slam the door.

"Not so loud!" Nancy's voice came echoing to her left.

Nancy and Kat shared a closet, so their rooms were barely seperated. Thus, they had to be ultra-quiet, for the very likely possibility that Nancy was calling Steve or Kat was calling Cameron or Monique (or just the possibility that one of them was in a bad mood).

"Screw Steve!" Kat said loudly in return, just to piss her off as she picked up the phone once more.

"I hope that wasn't a to-do list," Cameron said smugly, his voice matched with the sizzling of bacon as he made breakfast at his house.

"Ew, no," Kat said, "That's Nancy's type,"

"Speaking of love," Kat could hear Cameron set the table. "Denise Farer and Benjamin Johns,"

"What?" Kat wrinkled her nose as she straightened her school outfit, prepping her bag for classes. "They're gonna last two week, max."

"That's what I said, too," Cameron tsked disapprovingly. "A disgrace to Hawkins High,"

Kat and Cameron's friendship was based off of the romantic drama of high school. During freshman year while everyone else was talking about getting with somebody, Kat and Cameron bonded over their absence in such affairs. Although Kat could see the general appeal of romance, the rave that puberty caused at Hawkins High disgusted her. And as far as she knew, Cameron felt the same. Still, that didn't stop them from partaking in the judgement and gossip of day-to-day life.

"Anyways, I gotta go now. I'll meet you outside your door in half an hour," Kat said, cramming her Biology homework into her tote bag.

Cameron mumbled an incoherent goodbye, and Kat placed the receiver down. 

Her only window was directly on top of the front door (a great spot to spy on whoever came into the Wheeler House), so Kat leaned out and did a quick scan of her car for anything out of the ordinary. Finding nothing, she double-checked the layers of her bag and her outfit, before heading downstairs.

"Oh, Kathryn. Mrs. Sinclair called, she said Lucas would miss tonight's lesson," Mrs. Wheeler said, passing Kat a plate of pancakes.

"Oh," Kat furrowed her brows. "Why? He normally doesn't,"

Now, typically a response from Mrs. Wheeler would be a sigh and something about Middle Schooler business. And Kat recieved such, but through her peripheral vision she could see Mike shift uncomfortably when she asked what Lucas would be doing to miss their tutoring.

"Why won't he be there, Mike?" Kat asked instead, further prodding at his discomfort.

"No reason," he muttered.

"Does the reason have to do with the painkillers?" Kat said, and Mike looked up at her furiously.

"Why do you need painkillers, Michael?" Mr. Wheeler asked curiously.

Mike's glare could burn down villages, but Kat lived in a city far above.

"Max needed a favor," he lied, and both Nancy and Kat scoffed at the effort made.

"You should probably give them to Lucas and ask him to hand them to Max, then," Kat wiggled her fork. "Don't want Lucas getting the wrong ideas,"

"At least Lucas has a love life," Mike retorted.

"Hey." Kat said dangerously. "You-"

"Kids," Mrs. Wheeler said smoothly. And they shut up for approximately seven seconds.

Then Mike started poking his foot into her leg under the table.

Kat's anger rose with each poke, reserving it for her last straw to blow up.

Poke. Poke. Mike kept sneakily looking up at her to see if she had a reaction, taking bites out of his pancake between jabs.

"Hey, mom, I was thinking about spending the night at Stacey's, tonight. We were thinking of having a girl's night," Nancy said casually, walking over to the toaster. "Romantic comedies, do our nails, gossip,"

"Sure, that sounds like fun," Mrs. Wheeler said.

Poke

Poke

Poke

Kat's anger finally spilled over. She banged her knife and fork on the table, elbowing Mike hard in the ribs.

"Oww, Kathy!" he whined.

"Kathryn!" Kat's mother and father scolded at the same time. "Stop harassing your younger brother,"

"He started it! In my room earlier!" Kat said.

"No. That doesn't matter," Mrs. Wheeler said gently. "What matters is you, Kathryn, didn't take things to peace. You're the older sibling, Kathy! Look after Mike and Nancy,"

"I don't need looking after," Nancy protested, clearly still in her thoughts about Steve. Mike said the same thing.

Kat huffed and ate a pancake in three bites. She chewed it slowly, shutting the urge down to say to her mother 'Aren't you gonna yell at Mike, too? You saw what he did!'

After another pancake, Kat grabbed her bag and walked to the door. She always had to leave breakfast first since Mike's friends stopped by for him and Nancy got rides to school from Steve now.

She shoved her keys into the ignition, backed out of her spot with ease, and looped in the opposite direction of school to Cameron and Monique's neighborhood.

Cameron and Monique were neighbors, something they brought up a lot, since a good fifty percent of their banter was about noise complaints.

Kat beeped her car horn, waiting for them to come out.

They opened their doors at the same time, both running as fast as possible to get the passenger's seat.

Monique was just faster, tight brown curls bouncing up and down as she dived right into the seat before Cameron, who groaned in frustration.

"Hey, Kat," Monique said proudly as she looked over her shoulder to Cameron, trying to get settled in the extremely uncomfortable back seat.

"Hey, Moni," Kat said, revving the car before pulling back in the direction of Hawkins High.

"Extras," Cameron tossed bacon sandwiches he'd made at the two in the front.

They made it to school soon enough, and found their usual parking spot right next to the side entrance.

"Hey, do you see Nancy?" Kat noticed the absence of Jonathan's car.

"Nah. Probably still off with Byers," Cameron said, lighting a cigarette.

"What do you mean, 'off with Byers'?" Kat slapped it out of his hand.

"Nancy and Jonathan Byers skipped school together yesterday," Monique said, brown eyes wide. "Apparently Harrington's pissed about it,"

"Are you sure they skipped school together?" Kat pressed.

"Don't know. But Tina was skipping, too, and she said she saw them together," she frowned, Pretty Pink lips pursing together.

"Mom'll kill me if she finds out Nancy skipped school because of a boy and I didn't do anything about it," Kat groaned. "Whatever. We have Gym first period, lets go,"

They stepped out of Kat's car (Cameron not so gracefully), heading to the side door. Kat took a breath, and felt herself click in. Her features steeled, lips just preparing to deliver an icy comment. As was usual.

"Girls, are you sure you don't want to participate?" Coach asked over the boys' yelling.

"No, thanks," they chorused. Everyone had to do an assigned set workout during Gym, but afterwards there was the optional choice of basketball for the remaining half an hour. The girls sat on the bleachers for three reasons. One; because not all of them liked the idea of getting sweaty among guys with their shirts off. Two; because they wanted to admire Billy Hargrove from afar. Three; because all of them knew Coach was a huge pervert and therefore that they would rather sit basketball out.

"All right! All right," Billy yelled mockingly. "King Steve, everybody. I like it, playing tough today,"

"Jesus, do you ever stop talking," Steve said impatiently from the court.

"I think this is what the kids call; toxic masculinity?" Cameron swaggered over to their bench, wiping his forehead with a towel.

"Definitely," Monique said as Billy pushed Steve to the ground.

"He is decent on the eyes, though," Amber Waxfield said lowly to them, eyes glancing to Kat.

"Maybe. Not from this angle, though," Kat said coldly, and Amber looked back in front of her sheepishly.

"Aaand Hargrove scores!" Coach's voice rang out in triumph. "Dismissed!"

The boys went to their bathrooms to shower, but since none of the girls had broke a sweat, they simply changed out of their gym clothes and hung around in mostly empty hallways.

"Kat, hey, Kat!" someone called from behind her.

"Liz?" Kat raised an eyebrow.

"Are you still up for the Middle Ages essay?" Liz said pleadingly. "I'll raise it to fifteen bucks,"

"I told you, Liz. I don't do favors," Kat said boredly. "Doesn't matter if you raise it to fifty or not, I'm not writing your essay,"

"Go on. Scram," Monique said loftily, though a little kinder.

Monique, Kat, and Cameron's position among the never-changing social hierarchy of Hawkins High was rather complicated. They weren't popular like Harrington or Carol, but they were far from people like the band kids. They had gotten their position due to loyalty to each other, and their crisp coldness to the usual bickering of high school. Kat supposed they could be popular, but there was never any drama within the trio, no backstabbing, deserting, anything of the sort. So, they simply drifted between heaven and earth.

"Ah, Kathryn Wheeler. My office?" Ms. Kelley appeared out of nowhere.

"Of course," Kat said, glancing at her with a smile. However, she clenched her jaw and internally supressed the urge to scream at her.

They walked through the graudually filling halls, people glancing at her in confusion as to why she'd be with a counselor. They kept their eyes to themselves after noticing her glare. Ms. Kelley made it so that they attracted even more attention with the 'hello's she insisted on delivering to everbody. Finally, they made it to her office. it was hastily decorated with hanging decor, a few posters to advertise school plays over the years, and a bookshelf swinging down with childrens' books.

"So. Kat. Have you given any thought about what we talked about last week?" Ms. Kelley folded her hands on her table as Kat sat on the thinly cushioned chair opposite her.

"Yeah, I have. I've officially decided to process my stress in healthier ways," Kat said sarcastically.

"Oh? Tell me," Ms. Kelley took note of her sarcasm and played along.

"Y'know, just...things like basketball. College applications. Getting a job, maybe. You know the a new mall opening? Saw the scaffolding come down over the weekend, it's huge,"

"I heard," Ms. Kelley said. "Applications open for jobs next month; and you said you wanted to work at the movie theater?"

"Yep," Kat grinned.

Ms. Kelley smiled back, but then she dropped pretenses, leaning forwards and expressions serious.

"Look, we only have until next period, so I'm gonna make this frank. You've said confrontation isn't your thing, and that's perfectly fine. But you're going to have to face your problems, Kathryn. Chanelling your...issues...won't work forever, and neither will that moody facade you show people,"

"What facade?"

"Here. You're going into Chemistry next period, right? Don't sit in your usual spot. Sit in the middle of the room, near some people you don't normally talk to. These people will help you; Hawkins High isn't a total hell,"

"Sure," Kat said, beginning to chew on the inside of her lip. Damn the therapists, they really could get you to spill.

"And talk to your mother. Judging by what you've told me, and you've told me a lot, she loves you unconditionally. She just needs a few minutes of you telling her how you really feel about yourself,"

"Ms. Kelley, I told you. If I tell my mom I hate it when she pushes the 'older sibling responsibility' on me, she'll start prattling on about her 1940s life values,"

"And how do you know that? You've never confronted her about anything before," 

Kat shoved the anger down back inside her, slouching in her chair.

"Kathryn, you don't need to do this now. Take all the time you need," Ms. Kelley said sympathetically. "But just know that one day you won't be able to direct your anger among your classmates any longer,"

"Got it," Kat said through clenched teeth. "You have any caramels?"

Ms. Kelley sighed, knowing there was no more pushing her today unless she wanted a pot to boil over. She reached into her drawer, took out three wrapped sweets, and pushed them into Kat's palm.

"Thanks," Kat pocketed them, standing up and swinging her bag over one shoulder.

"Think about what I said, Kat. Fixing this would do you so much better than you think," Ms. Kelley pleaded.

Kat gave her an awkward half-smile and a thumbs-up before stepping out her door.

She really didn't need any trauma reminders this early in the day.

━━author's note ━━

hey yall, welcome to chill pill! 

yes indeed, kat is a bitch! as is the result of many years of responsibility and supressed emotions as an older sibling raised with 80s values! and puberty. also, kat is asexual!